When the difference between success and failure in an elite triathlon is fractions of a second, what’s covering your body is a factor today’s top competitors can’t ignore. But when Scott Unsworth was competing in triathlons at international and Commonwealth Games level in the late ’80s and early ’90s, he realised there was no performance clothing designed specifically for the needs of these athletes.

When injury forced Unsworth out of top level competition, he began tinkering at home in the spare room, leading to the development of the Performance Speedsuit in 1991. Despite being made with a low budget and no corporate backing, this custom-designed suit turned out to be faster than the other garments available at the time. Orca was founded on the success of this suit. Having raced in top-class events, Unsworth understood the specific performance advantages the right apparel could offer and was confident that competitors would pay a premium for every extra second they could gain in a triathlon.

“By athletes, for athletes” is how Marketing Manager Julian Smith now describes Orca’s approach, allowing the company’s designers to focus on making a real difference to a competitor’s performance, whether by investigating how to make a wetsuit ‘fly’ off a racer in a transition phase, or how to increase buoyancy without sacrificing weight and ease of movement during the swim.

The Insights

Go straight to the source

The majority of ideas for new Orca products are generated from Orca’s close relationships with elite athletes. This test market provides both new ideas and improvements on existing Orca designs, and ensures a ready market for new releases.

Be aware of what’s out there

The Orca team stays in touch with what their competition are up to – not necessarily in order to follow existing trends or respond to competitors’ actions, but to maintain a strong sense of identity about their points of difference and their own brand and direction.

Use your team

Not all Orca staff are top triathletes, but most share a strong interest in sports and have competed at top levels. This body of knowledge about the realities of sport is a key way for Orca to understand its market. Says Marketing Manager Julian Smith: “Our staff act as our eyes and ears out there, which is invaluable research.”

Be inspired and be inspiring

When Unsworth was developing the initial Orca product line, he understood the need for a brand and an idea that connected with customers as much as a product that performed. This is where the link with the Orca marine mammal came in, allowing the Orca brand to be built around the strongly emotive concept of one of the world’s most powerful predators.

Help your customers win the mind game

When Unsworth started Orca, he knew there were two ways design could differentiate the Orca-wearing competitor from others. One was in sheer speed and performance; the other was the psychological effect the Orca strip could have on fellow competitors. At a time of growing awareness of the power of sports psychology, this insight tapped into a latent need among sportspeople and helped Orca to achieve brand loyalty early on.

Designing the difference

Orca seek out the harshest critics to test their gear at every step.

Triathletes and other top level sportspeople want to know two things at the start line. First, their apparel is geared towards speed and ease. Secondly, that they have a psychological edge – they want other competitors to recognize that they’re wearing a suit that encompasses the latest in technology.

Unsworth built a design process aimed at achieving this. Product designers and innovation deliver the speed and performance, brand consultants and graphic designers build a story and ‘look’ around the Orca brand for the psychological edge, and the testing is done by the athletes themselves. World–class triathletes test Orca’s gear at every stage in the design process.

Orca’s Elite range resulted from this collaborative, three-pronged approach. In 2001 new ‘fast fabric’ samples were demonstrated to triathletes and, as a result, they tested them on the World Cup circuit for fit, effectiveness and appearance.

On going to market, the Elite range satisfied all stakeholders in this three-part design team. Its technology was cutting edge and designed shamelessly for speed, it was visually appealing and stayed true to Orca brand values, and it had been tested rigorously by the athletes who would race in the apparel.

The Insights

Design for performance as an utmost priority

Orca wetsuits never sacrifice performance for appearance. When testing showed that reduced seams were preferable to reduce drag force, the design team started to look at alternatives to seams to design shape into the garments. This meant investigating sublimation printing and varying fabric textures to maintain a unique shape.

Design from New Zealand, source from wherever is best

Using the world’s most advanced fabrics means Orca products must be manufactured in some of the world’s most advanced factories – many of which are outside New Zealand. Says Julian Smith: “Italy and Taiwan have very good textile facilities. We’re Kiwis – we’d love to do as much as we could in NZ – but leading edge synthetic performance fabrics will always be produced off-shore. It’s a quality issue, not a cost issue.”

Stay focused on the end user

Orca wetsuits are designed literally on the backs of live athletes, rather than starting with computer models or block patterns. This is the best way the Orca design team has found to ensure the garments perform in live situations.

Know your brand values

Orca’s brand values are derived from the marine mammal the company is named after: powerful, swift, intelligent. The look and feel of the brand is also influenced by this – the contrasting colours and organic shapes. After a 2002 Government grant allowed Orca to spend some time with brand specialist Brian Richards, these ideas were consolidated into three key concepts: speed, aspiration and performance.

Don’t say “me too”

Smith believes Orca stands out visually amongst other sports brands, something he says was especially noticeable at the recent Olympic games in Athens. This is particularly important in delivering on the psychological advantages Orca products offer, which was a core part of the early creation of the brand.

The design dividend

Prove yourself in the top echelons and then call on the trickle-down effect.

When Scott Unsworth planned the launch of Orca’s Elite range in 2001, he knew the best way to create demand was simply to show how good the products were, and the difference they could make to an athlete’s performance.

He kitted out selected World Cup triathletes in Orca Elite racewear before it was available in stores. Their resulting success on the world stage meant demand was so great that the Elite range sold out almost immediately on release.

Before that, Orca held around 2% of the world triathlon apparel market. In 2004 it rose to more like 15%. Even more impressive is Orca’s dominance of the elite market, with 60% of the 2004 Olympic Games triathlon field wearing Orca.

According to Orca Brand Manager Megan Nealie this initial focus on the top end of the triathlon market has given Orca a strong platform for branching out. They recently released an entry level wetsuit, for ‘first timers’ and age group racers, and they are also looking at expanding their range into other sporting zones that fit well with the established Orca brand. Says Nealie, their philosophy is one of “measured steps.”

“Our triathlon focus has obviously given us a deep understanding of running, swimming and cycling, so they are logical areas for us to develop into. We’re confident that the brand equity we have established through our focus on the top end of the triathlon market will extend into these other sporting zones.”

The Insights

Top end design leadership can drive market equity

Market domination at the elite end of the market is allowing Orca to command a price premium for its entry-level mass market offering, the ‘Race’ range.

Build a product portfolio based on consistent brand principles

Unsworth knew he wanted to develop a long-term sustainable product range that could be added to over time. This meant developing brand values upfront, before designing garments. As a result, when a new product is added to the Orca range it has a clear reference point and is easily identifiable as part of the Orca family.

Spend your time wisely

Some simple analysis showed that Orca staff were spending more time responding to ad hoc requests from a number of different distributors than was profitable. The decision was made to consolidate their distribution, and they now have four ‘master distributors’ arranged regionally. This leaves the Orca team free to focus on more important and profitable matters.

Be jealous

Marketing Manager Julian Smith says most successful sports brands have maintained a ‘jealous’ market position. For Orca, this means entering into exclusive distribution deals, with a requirement that Orca is the only category product each distributor handles.

Let your brand values inspire your company direction

The Orca is second only to man in terms of its distribution across the globe. Having whole-heartedly embraced the physical attributes of the Orca to inspire the company’s brand, Unsworth now sees it as a logical step to be inspired by its behaviour, with this impressive statistic providing a challenge to the company to expand even further globally to match its marine counterpart.

The design process

No two businesses approach the design process in exactly the same way. What they do share, however, is a structure that ensures the right people are engaged at the right time, and that responsibilities for specific outcomes are clear at each step. The Orca design process: